The Five Orange Pips
by Mislav
Summary: Sort of a sequel to my stories "Enough Nemesis to go Around" and "Into the Forest". Sherlock and Joan investigate series of hate crimes. Joan also reconsiders her relationship with Andrew.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I don't own any of the Elementary characters I am not making any money from writing this.**

**Please forgive any minor spelling or grammar mistakes, English is not my native language.**

**I know, I know, working on another story when I already have one Elementary story in progress... I heard that second episode of third season of Elementary will be entitled "The Five Orange Pips" and I just couldn't resist writing a fic about that because I had been considering that for weeks before I found out about that episode! That freaked me out at first. I look forward to see how many things that I write here will happen in the episode. Don't worry, I am going to finish "Into the Forest" soon and also publish a prequel to this story (an actual sequel to "Into the Forest"). **

**OC Actor/Actresses**

**Jenny Monroy=Diane Huntigton**

**David Snow=Mike O'Malley**

**Tommy Snow=Breckin Meyer**

**Genna Kroger=Jodie Sweetin Shanna Jones=Kelle Stewart**

**Brenda Snow=Sierra McCorick**

**Jesse Bloom=Frankie Muniz**

**Mark Melnick=Gary Sinise**

**Emily Melnick=Megyn Price**

Joan groaned, feeling even more frustrated. Sherlock was trying to convince her to go on a round of morning boxing for days, and when she finally agreed and went for a round, it wasn't turning out well for her. Two rounds and still no progression. Not to mention that she took more punches than she gave. Sherlock was just standing near by in silence, watching. She wasn't sure would she prefer him to talk or not.

Distracted with her thoughts, Joan unknowingly dropped her guard. When she noticed her fist screaming towards her face, it was too late. She groaned at the punch, her eyesight blurring for a moment. Joan felt rage boiling inside of her, pain that she felt slowly being replaced by a feeling of numbness. She tried to kick her in the chest, but she managed to move away.

When a woman tried to take a swing at her, Joan immediately noticed that she didn't think that move through and was still, and saw her chance. She successfully moved away and, before the woman was able to take a swing at her again, punched her square in the face with all of her strength. Woman almost lost balance, but didn't fall down. Before she was able to fight back or even realize what happened, Joan kicked her opponent in the stomach. She ended up winning that battle.

She went off the stage, smiling at almost shocked look on Sherlock's face. "What?", she asked.

"That was... impressive", Sherlock admitted.

She shrugged. "Well, your departure gave me lot of energy build up for such activities."

Sherlock nodded his head as Joan went to the locker room. "I should have seen that coming", he mumbled to himself.

#

It was a nice, sunny morning in suburban area of Queens, New York. A woman named Jenny Monroy was sitting at the dining room table opposite to her wife, Daniele. Jenny was eating her breakfast, a bowl of cereal, while Molly was feeding their daughter, Molly. They still had about ten minutes left before Jenny had to go work.

"She seems quite hungry today", Jenny commented. Daniele smiled. "Yea..."

They both heard some sort of a noise coming from the other end of the house, but they ignored it.

"Coming home late today too, don't you?", Daniele asked.

Jenny shrugged. "Probably..."

There was that noise again. "What is that?", Jenny commented and went to the back door to check things out. Daniele continued feeding their baby.

Suddenly, two shots were heard. Daniele jumped in her chair, her blood running cold. Molly started crying. Daniele embraced her, trying to calm her down, and grabbed her phone...

#

Within half an hour, Sherlock and Joan were on the scene, together with captain Gregson and Marcus Bell. Jenny was lying lifelessly in front of the back door that were left wide open, while Daniel's was lying dead on the floor next to the kitchen table. Everyone were silent, like everyone was waiting for somebody else to speak. Finally, Sherlock spoke up.

"The tattoos."

Everyone glared at him.

"What?", Joan asked.

"Both victims have at least one tatoo, as far as I can see. Jenny has one, a tatooe of three small stars on her neck, and Daniele has two: Jenny's name on her left wrist and a date on the right one. Probably her mother's birthday."

"We see that", Marcus commented. Sherlock continued. "It is quite obvious, at least to me, that all three tattos had been made by the same tatoo artist. Every tatoo artist has his or hers distinctive way of creating, like any other artist. Show some photographs, check their phone and bank records, computers, and maybe you will find him or her. A valuable witness. Or a possible suspect." Everyone just sort of mentally faced palmed themselves, partially for not deducing that, partially for being initially surprised that Sherlock did. Thomas just nodded his head. "Anyway... first victim, the one closer to the back door, is Jenny Monroy, twenty five, shot once in the forehead and once in the right hand", he explained. "Second victim is her wife, twenty five years old Daniele, shot in the kitchen, once in the forehead and once in the right hand. Jenny owned a bookstore just down the block. Daniele was a web site designer, she worked at home. Neighbors said that they had been married for two years, apparently happily, and had an adopted daughter, Molly, for a year. Molly is now missing. Neighbors heard the shots at about eight am and called 911. Police got there in about four minutes. By that time the killer was gone, and so was Molly."

"Neighbors reported seeing blue SUV fleeing from the scene at the approximate time of the murder, but didn't catch up on licence places number or any distinctive characteristics, nobody can describe a driver", Marcus said. Joan started observing the crime scene while Sherlock started going through the victim's trash can in the kitchen. Everyone looked at him in shock for some time, then just sighed and went back to investigating.

"We think that Molly was the target", Thomas explained. "Both victims have parents living in New York. So far, there's no reports about ransom demands."

"What about Molly's biological parents?", Joan asked.

"Unknown. Killer took most of the baby supplies with him, but CSI's will probably find traces of her DNA somewhere in this house."

"That is good. He is planning to take care of her. He won't harm her as long as he gets what he wants."

"We don't know for sure is she alive yet", Marcus said.

"Unless baby supplies are some sort of his sick killer trophies, he took them because he needs to take care of her. Also, position of the bodies, amount of blood on the scene and look of blood splatters tell me that only Jenny and Daniele were shot. Also, why would he kill Molly too and take her body with him but leave Jenny's and Daniele's body here? He obviously broke in through the back door. Jenny probably heard the noise and went to check things out. He shot her. Then he went to the kitchen and shot Daniele as well, before she managed to get help."

Sherlock finally approached them, holding an evidence bag in his hand, with a ripped envelope and some orange pips in it. "I found this in the trash can. An envelope. According to the post mark, it was delivered to them two months prior to the murders. No return address. It contained three orange pips still in it. I found two almost identical pips in the trash can."

Thomas took an evidence bag and examined it closely. Marcus glared at Sherlock, who already took his IPhone and began typing something on it. "Why were you going through their trash in the first place?", Marcus asked.

"You sometimes can find more clues in the person's trash than in his or hers entire residence", Sherlock explained, like that was the most natural thing in the world. He looked up at Gregson.

"Since we are dealing with possible child abduction, the FBI will get involved, right?"

"Yes, we already informed FBI", Thomas said.

"We will probably need them", Sherlock exclaimed. "This was not an isolated incident, and I doubt that Molly was the target.". Everyone glared at him, looking almost shocked.

"While in London, I was trying to keep up with some of the high profile murder cases in New York City", he proudly explained. "It was my hobby, so to speak. And I did a fairly good job, if I may add. I remember two cases that involved people that could be victims of hate crimes and that involved severe damage being done to the victim's forehead and right hand. One of them also includes an SUV and five orange pips." He handled his IPhone to Joan before he started his summation. "Two months ago, a teenager, an African American teenager, John Grey, eighteen years old, was shot to death in a drive by shooting while walking out from the school that he attended towards his car on the school parking lot. The killer shot him once in the right hand and once in the head with the .22 hunting rifle. According to witness statements, the killer was in orange SUV, with NY licence plates. The case remains unsolved till this day. On the side of the road close to the parking lot, a paper bag containing five orange pips was found. Five months before that, an African American woman named Shaniqua Mathews, twenty nine years old, a known prostitute, was found stabbed to death in a motel room in Brooklyn. No mention of the orange pips, but it was mentioned that the killer also used some sort of blunt object to bash her forehead and right hand too."

"That method of murder could have a Bible origin", Joan noted. "From the Revelation."

"I think that we stumbled upon the third and the fourth murder in a series of hate crimes happening throughout the New York City during the last seven months", he concluded.

"We need to do our best to ensure that they become the last ones."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I don't own any of the Elementary characters and I am not making any money from writing this.**

**Please forgive any minor spelling or grammar mistakes, English is not my native language.**

Joan looked around the dusty old apartment, adjusting the latex glove on her left hand, trying to think of where to start looking. Sherlock was already going through the drawers. The apartment was very simplistic: a kitchen right next to the front door, living room next to it, and hallway leading to the bathroom.

"This is where Shaniqua lived", Sherlock started explaining, like Joan didn't already know that. Maybe he wanted to the importance of the search? "If she received an envelope containing five orange pips, it might still be here." He remained completely focused on his search.

"Detectives already searched her apartment", Joan noticed, but started going through the papers on the kitchen table anyway.

"Initial investigation didn't recover an envelope containing five orange pips, nothing similar to that was found on the scene. And yet, by all accounts, this murder was first in a series of murders involving envelopes containing five orange pipis", he explained. "We have to find out why. Maybe somebody just wasn't looking hard enough. As you probably know, that practice is the one of the Ku Klux Klan origin." As Joan looked into the fridge, Sherlock turned his attention to the fireplace. He soon exclaimed: "Found it!"

Joan turned facing Sherlock; he walked towards her, holding an evidence bag in his hand. Sherlock showed the bag to Joan. It contained a charded piece of an envelope and single orange pip, both idoms covered in ashes.

"Shaniqua burned it in her fireplace, probably dismissed it as a prank of some sort. Not everything burned to the ashes."

Joan glared at him."It was still there, after seven months?"

"Nobody rented the apartment for a long period of time after her death, only on several occassions for a few days or weeks, last time early in September. The murder occurred late in March. Luckily for us, nobody felt the need to warm up the place, and, apparently, nobody had any incriminating evidence to burn or cared to clean the fireplace. Anyway, I think we should head back to the station to prepare with the would be meeting with FBI agents."

#

Within two hours everyone, including Joan and Sherlock were in the conference hall, sitting on their spots, Thomas, Marcus and FBI agent Derreck Silver standing in front of them, next to the blackboard with crime scene photographs and documents plastered on it, explaining the matters and giving the assignments.

"As you know, we are here because of the series of hate motivated series of murders happening in this city", Gregson explained, pacing around the room as he did. "This is FBI agent Derreck, he and the members of his team will assist us with the investigation."

"Our current prime suspects are brothers named David and Timmy Snow and David's wife Jenny Kroger, residents of New York, Brooklyn", Derreck explained. "David, born in 1975, and Tommy, born in 1980, grew up here, in Brooklyn. David started dating a woman named Genna Kroger in 1998 and next year they got a daughter, Brenda, but never officially got married. In 2000, David and Tommy were sentenced to ten years in prison for beating up a young African American man in front of the nightclub. Genna got custody over Brenda. First day in prison, David shanked his Asian cellmate and had extra five years added to his sentence. Tommy was paroled in 2005, after serving five years. David was paroled in 2010. Timmy appeared to have settled down, he found a job and even got the house but in 2007 he was suspected off beating up and robbing a homosexual couple in an alleway close to the gay bar. He was never charged due to lack of evidence. David, Jenny and Brenda moved in with Timmy after David was released. Jenny never had a criminal record herself, but in 2005 she was arrested for vandalising Jewish cemetery. She was never charged due to lack of evidence. In 2011-2013 period, he, as well as Tommy and Genna were suspects in a series of arsons. Unkown group of people set two private fertility clinics, one abortion clinic, and four synagoges on fire in that time period. They would break in in the middle of the night and ste a big can of gasoline in the middle of the room, with a towel wrapped around it, and several smaller ones inside and outside around the building, set the towel on fire and leave. That way they would have enough time to flee the scene before the fire would start. Nobody got killed, but all seven buildings were ruined beyond repair. Every time, few days before the attacks, am envelope containing five orange pips was send on the building's address. David became a suspect because of his previous conviction and because he lived in close proximity to the first two buildings, but there was no evidence linking him to the bombings. FBI even put up a surveillance at him once, but he noticed them and threatened to file a harrassment suit before they managed to spot anything that could help them, so we had to stop."

"After the first two arsons, Caucasian man named Jesse Bloom and his African American fiancee, Shelly Reed, were attacked in an alley by a group of three people while leaving the movie theater", Thomas continued . "They were both beaten up, robbed, and shot by one of the attackers with the .45 caliber gun: once in the forehead and once in the right palm. was pronounced dead on the scene: was in coma for almost a month, but woke up and eventually recovered."

"We think that David Snow, Tommy Snow and Genna Kroger have taken up killing again", Marcus concluded. "We think that they murdered twenty nine years old Shaniqua on March 24th this year, eighteen years old John Grey on August 27th this year and Jenny and Daniele Monroy this very morning. They also possibly abducted their two year old daughter, Molly."

"Social service was at Snow's home numerous times, they even interrogated neighbors, but couldn't find anything they could use in order to move Brenda away from that household", Derreck explained. "David and Tommy had criminal records, but by all accounts never broke the law after being released from prison, and apparently took good care of Brenda. Brenda never broke the law herself and never expressed any radical beliefs of such nature."

"How come Jenny or Daniele didn't hear of the arsons and called the police after they received five orange pips?", Joan asked.

"That information was never made public", captain Gregson explained. "Minorities were, however, advised to inform the police if they receive any threats or any packages containing some unusual materials. Even I didn't know about that because I wasn't in charge of the investigation. Since first two arsons were victimless cases were initially investigated by local arson squad and then by FBI."

"Now we will have to make that information public", Derrek announced. "This went too far. Every one who isn't white, straight or Christian can be a possible target."

"According to this file, David doesn't own a car, but Timmy owns blue SUV", Sheldon exclaimed before looking up at Thomas, Derreck and Marcus. "The car of the same model and color was seen fleeing from the scene of Jenny's and Daniel's murder and was used in a drive by shooting of John Grey. Witnesses said that shots were fired from passenger side. The killer used a .22 caliber hunting rifle. He couldn't have drive and shoot John in the same time, neither is that of rifle long enough to reach that far. One person was driving, another one was shooting. And room where Shaniqua was murdered was rented that very night by a Caucasian red haired woman with sunglasses in a coat, according to the recepcionist. Woman checked herself out two hours later and was wearing a different clothing and trash bag in her hand after she left. The body was discovered later that night by a maid. is a Caucasian, read haired woman of approximately the same height. I think that it is pretty obvious that all three of them are involved. Possibly even Brenda."

Short silence ensued: like many times, others were either surprised by Sherlock's deductions or annoyed at him, so nobody really knew what to say. Finally, Thomas spoke."Anyway... we should get to work. First by talking to Snow family, and then re examine the evidence, trying to find some proof or the next clue. If you have any questions, you can find us here."

Everyone started leaving. Thomas approached Sherlock and Joan. "I want you two and Marcus to go interrogate Snows right away."

"So we can throw them off balance", Joan commented, glaring suspiciously at Thomas.

"Because of your interrogation and deductive skills, but...". He groaned. Yeah, that too. Go."

They left with Marcus in tow.

#

Even Sherlock was amazed by how ordinary and normal murderers-or murder suspects-could appear. Conversation with Snows was no exception. Even he found it odd that a group of violent killers, racist and terrorists were living in that relatively nice suburban house, sitting at the kitchen table and talking to them, even smiling while doing so. Brenda looked kinda nervous, but other than that she was just like any other teenage girl.

"Me and my brother made some mistakes in past", David explained. "We are not proud of that. But we are not the same people as we were anymore. We didn't kill those people. We are innocent just like we were a year ago."

Sherlock, Joan and Marcus remained firm and calm. Neither of them really believed what David and Tommy were saying, but they showed no emotion.

"Where were you today at about seven am?", Marcus asked.

"Sleeping", Tommy answered. We both work near by, our shifts start at eight am. We finished earlier today. Brenda just came back from school."

"Genna is still at work", David said.

"You own a blue SUV?", Joan asked Timmy.

"Yes. Why?"

"Just asking", Joan replied, somehow mysteriously, hoping to confuse them, make them drop their guard a little. They both looked a little worried, but they remained firm. Brenda looked down at the floor, but said nothing.

"Did you know any of these people: Shaniqua Mathews? John Grey? Jenny and Daniele Monroy?", Sherlock asked them, putting their photographs on the table.

Suddenly, Brenda looked up, giving Sherlock, and also Joan and Marcus, an angry, fiercfull look. "It is sad, you know", she said, her voice shivering. "That you don't think that people can change. I think you should leave us alone."

"We didn't", David finally said. Tommy and Brenda just nodded their heads. "Please leave", David said.

#

Marcus sighed as he, Joan and Sherlock made their way toward the car. "I don't trust these guys", he commented.

"Me either", Sherlock agreed. "David and Tommy tried to appear calm, but it was obvious that they could barely stand your and Joan's presence. I am not sure about Brenda though."

"What do we do now?", Joan asked.

"I don't think we should go talk to Genna, not yet. We shouldn't scare them, they would cover their tracks or disappear. What we need to do now is tell what we found out to captain and then get on to the studying previous two murders", Sherlock said.


End file.
